Last week my mom and I had a chance to visit NYC for just about 24 hours. NYC is like my second home. My husband has some family there and it is always a first-time feeling every time time I am there. A travelers-paradise, NYC has so much to offer. It is a city of lights and dreams and fantasies. Words can not describe the charm of NYC, one needs to experience this adrenaline rush, at least once in their lifetime.
The best way to see this city is by foot. There is so much architecture and history, that one needs at least a week to experience that sense of belongingness. But if you are there for just about 24 hours like my mom and me, then the tour buses are your best bet. Buy a 24 hour City pass, get on one of the hop-on-hop-off buses, and you are all set. You can hop on and hop off at your convenience, making sightseeing all the more memorable.
The tour buses have a few route options :
1) Downtown tour : - this tour loops around the following attractions
- Empire State Building Observatory
- Rockefeller center
- Intrepid, Sea, Air, and Space Museum
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Madame Tussauds Wax Museum
- Ripley’s Believe it or Not!
- 9/11 Tribute Museum
- Museum of the City of New York
- Central Park
2) Uptown tour : this loops around
- Harlem
- Upper East and West Sides
- Apollo Theater
- Malcolm Memorial
- Malcolm Shabazz African Market
- Cathedral of St. John the Divine
- Columbia University
- The Plaza Hotel
- The Elegant Shopping Destinations of Fifth Avenue.
3) Brooklyn tour: this walking tour of the Brooklyn bridge is by far the best you'll experience in NYC. A 45 minute walk on this bridge and you will experience NYC like never before.
4) Night tour - no visit to NYC would be complete without the night tour of Times Square. The bright lights, the flashy billboards, the night life, witness all in this night tour.
Don't get disheartened if you are not able to see all the major attractions in one day. This city is so mesmerizing, that it will keep you coming back to NYC....over and over!
